ATLANTA — The freshman legislator who suffered the cold shoulders of his veteran colleagues by proposing a limit on lobbyists’ gifts in 2011 is now a veteran himself, and flush with ultimate victory on the new gift-limit law, Sen. Josh McKoon has taken aim at the next legislative tradition he considers “the single greatest obstacle to a transparent legislative process.”

Over the decades it’s become clear that an environmental crisis is the media’s baby; environmental progress is an orphan. Acid rain was an environmental calamity in the 1980s, claiming much media and public attention. The New York Times printed 338 articles with “acid rain” in the headline from 1975 to 2009; 85 percent were in the 1980s, an average of 29 per year.

I would arrive on foot in the afternoon, having walked the quarter mile from the elementary school to the small store situated on the main drag of Cohutta, Ga., which meant I was right smack in the middle of “not a whole lot going on.”

Cohutta, a town of about 500, sits on the north end of Whitfield County, just about two miles from the Tennessee line. As you might imagine, it wasn’t exactly a hub of economic activity.

Lucky for you, it’s Otis Spunkmeyer fundraiser time again at the middle school. Act fast to obtain these intangible benefits and more. Get your cookie dough while it lasts. Believe me, folks, it goes faster than you (or your kids) think.